THE NEW SPACE ODYSSEY

ASTRONAUT SHUBHANSHU SHUKLASS VOYAGE SIGNALS INDIA’S AMBITION TO JOIN THE BIG LEAGUE OF HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION

- BY RAJ CHENGAPPA

When Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla floated into the International Space Station (ISS) from the Crew Dragon capsule that had docked with it on June 26, he wasn't feeling too good. Despite being a test pilot in the Indian Air Force, like most astronauts on their maiden flight into orbit, Shukla admitted that his head felt heavy and he was slightly disoriented. That's because he was still adjusting to the near-zero gravity conditions he endured during the 28-hour space flight that brought him and his three compatriots to the ISS, which orbits the earth at a height of 400 km. Dr Brigitte Godard, a former spaceflight surgeon at the Cologne-based European Astronaut Centre who was in Delhi recently, describes the effect this way: "Despite the lack of gravity, the heart continues to pump at the same rate as it does on earth and blood tends to rush to the head, and the face and tongue swell up. All these are symptoms of motion sickness. The body takes anything between 24 and 36 hours to adjust to zero gravity."

Soon after lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, Shukla also experienced the tremendous gravitational force or G-force that Rakesh Sharma, India's first astronaut, talked about when his Soviet Soyuz T-11 spacecraft took him to space in April 1984. Sharma recalled, "Because you are seated in the spacecraft looking upwards for lift-off, the G-force that you feel on your rib cage is four times the amount you feel on your waist. It presses against the spine, leaving very little space for the lungs to expand. So, breathing becomes difficult."